n. & v.
n. 1 a person bearing the blame for the sins, shortcomings, etc. of others, esp. as an expedient. 2 Bibl. a goat sent into the wilderness after the Jewish chief priest had symbolically laid the sins of the people upon it (Lev. 16).
v.tr. make a scapegoat of. scapegoater n.
[ scape (archaic, = escape) + GOAT, = the goat that escapes ]